Recalling gold burst on the Nilgiri hills

[Nilgiri Documentation Centre,Kotagiri]

Hindustan Photo Films was not the first industrial misadventure on the Nilgiri hills. 140 years ago the South India Alpha Gold Mining Company, ‘the biggest venture to date’ was set up for gold prospecting in Gudalur by two Australian coffee planters who had been gold miners earlier.

The New Zealand Herald of 31 March 1875 was agog with excitement. It talked of famous geologists of the day Messer Foote and King having made the project study, the Governor of Madras Lord Hobart himself having inspected the area and ‘experienced diggers’ involved in the project.

As for the quantity of the gold it was said that the, ‘auriferous quartz veins are as rich as are any which have been discovered in California’. The only danger was the , ‘fearfully malarious nature of the climate’.

The East India Company also notified that, ‘should any gold be found, a portion of it would be considered belonging to the government’.
‘Ootacamund, the delightful hitherto recherché sanitarium on the Neilgherries is to be the new busy and bustling Ballarat (a gold mining town in Australia)’ concluded the report and predicted an exodus from ‘Melbourne to Madras’.

However the folly of the whole sordid episode was exposed soon after. As Shyam Rungta says in ‘The Rise of Business Corporations in India 1851-1900’ the whole venture was, ‘founded on incompetence and ended in misfortune’. The average cost of an ounce of gold produced was three times the market price.

The failure of Alpha only added to the speculation. When the gold rush peaked in 1879-81 as many as 41 companies were set up with a capital of over 5 million Pound Sterling in London, Bombay and Madras.
The shares of these companies commanded 50 to 100 percent premium even before any work was started merely on the basis of the cables sent by the ‘mining experts’ one of whom turned out to be a retired circus clown.

From little more than clusters of native huts, ‘gold towns’ of Devala and Pandalur blossomed suddenly into busy mining centres substantial buildings, bungalows, hotels, a store for ‘valuable quartz which was to be extracted’, a saloon and even race course laid out on paddy fields.

When the gold ‘boom’ burst without producing any gold several companies and banks collapsed in London and India. The only people who benefited were the ,’professional promoters, vendors of land, engineers and government of Madras and Mysore and their officers’.
The gold burst left Devala and Pandalur ghost towns, a place which a Times of India reporter had described before the gold rush thus, ‘Nature was undoubtedly in a poetic mood when she conceived and evolved the country, wild and lovely in extreme at one moment suggesting by the impressive grandeur of its mountain masses reminiscences of the Austrian Tyrol, at another recalling the sweet scenary of our own beautiful Wales by the delicate sylvan richness of its wooded valleys’

Karu Harachodhu

Karu Harachodhu
In his book, THE GOLDEN BOUGH – A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION (1922) Sir James George Fraser (1854 – 1941) mentioned the following :-
Among the Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills in Southern India, when a death has taken place, the sins of the deceased are laid upon a buffalo calf.For this purpose the people gather round the corpse and carry it outside of the village. There an elder of the tribe, standing at the head of the corpse, recites or chants [known as - "KARU HARUCHODU"] a long list of sins such as any Badaga may commit, and the people repeat the last word of each line after him.
Listen to the prayer rendered by Bellie Jayaprakash here
Go here to know more about Badaga Funeral Rites

Badaga Dance

Badaga dance is all about grace and style. It is a wonderful sight when a group of ladies dance together. During the funeral, the ladies of the parental village [hatti] of the deceased woman, dance going around the cot [kattalu] to the music provided by the 'host' hatti musicians.
Badaga Dance

Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash, the 'All-in-One' of this site. Started as a hobby but now an obsession.

Even when I was down with poverty and sat at the front court yard,
Even when the near and dear ones despised and deserted,
My mother who gave birth, cared for and brought me up,
Did not blame me and did not reject me- her son, as bad

Even when I toiled as a Cooli with a bent back,
Even when I sat down with my looks dulled and dirty,
Even when I wore patched up old clothes,
My mother never said that I was down ; never rejected me as poor!

Even when I entered the stables and cleaned the dung,
Even when I sat on the rock and tendered the cows,
Even when I lifted loads to earn so as to suppress the hunger,
My mother never found any fault ; never scolded me as ignorant.

Athikkodhu & Karu Harachodhu

The beauty about Badaga community is not only the unique customs specific to the community but the steadfast belief with which atleast some of them are followed by Badagas. One of them is the loud chanting of ‘Athikkodhu – EAY AH HOW – on certain but specific occasions. It is said that in earlier days [hundreds of years back], when the Badaga villages [hattis] were separated by thick jungle forests , 'athikkindu Hoppadhu ' - traversing the forest with loud athikkodhu chant - kept the wild animals away.

Three occasions, when this loud chanting takes place, come to mind immediately,
1)During “Hethay Habba’ – both when from every village the devotees go to Hethay temples at Beragani and Peddhuva [as well as when the Hethay deity from Hethai Gudi is taken to ‘Madi Halla -river’ for change into new dress once a year].Also, and whenever a hatti temple deity is taken on procession during habbas in hattis],
2) During weddings when the bride and groom are brought to the ‘Madhuvay Mane – wedding house' and the newly weds are taken to the temple and
3) On funerals when the widow is brought for ‘olay Kattodhu’ and the ‘akki eththuva ‘ procession starts from the ‘dhodda Mane’ to ‘saavu hanay ‘ where the corpse/body is kept before being taken for burial.

This loud ‘chanting /cry’ is made from the bottom of the stomach by a few leading the procession and repeated by the rest following them.

I have given the ‘live’ recordings of this unique chanting (recorded during a wedding [the band playing in the background] at Thambatty

More than 560,000 hits…

That is a lot of hits for a website [weblog] on BADAGA that is focused on a small community of the Blue Mountains - the Nilgiris, in the southern part of India. Is it due to...

the urge to know the unknown about ourselves....

to sift the truth from fiction....the satisfaction that we have a very unique history.....the mystery about the mistaken migration.....the traditions that are still steadfastly followed.....the great language that has survived for centuries without a script...

The simple fact that this site's motto of 'Proud to be a Badaga ; Proud to be an Indian' has become an accepted norm...

You all, my dear friends, have made me bow my head in gratitude.

Proud to be an Indian and proud to be a Badaga, indeed.

Hope to say - 'thanks a million' soon...

Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash, is the 'All-in-One' of this site. He says that he started this site as a hobby but now it has become an obsession.This website crossed the milestone of 100,000 visitors on 8-3-2010, 150,000 visitors on 20-4-2011, 200,000 visitors on 6-4-2012 , 250,000 on 22-1-2013, 300,000 hits on 6-1-2014, 350,000 on 6-1-15 and 400,000 on 13 -11-2015550000 hits on 1 Jan 2018. Feel humbled but proud

Golden Voice of Kerban Bella Gowder

Kerban Bella Gowder, a great Badaga Singer

Badaga Songs

Listen to these Badaga melodies as you browse

Dance Numbers Sad Songs

Letter

Thomas Chandy (thomaschandy@gmail.com) writes:-
"This is my first visit to this site and was surprised to know how ignorant I have been about the Badaga community. All that I have read makes me hang my head in shame for I have been growing up in the Nilgiris, among the Badagas and I was so ignorant about their origin,culture and so on. This write up is very informative and useful and may the Badaga community grow and spread through the whole world and prosper".

"Thank you Thomas. I am humbled at your kind words. May I hope that the Badagas will live up to your hopes, and thank you once again on behalf of the Badaga community – Wg Cdr JP"

Letter

Anand Ramachandran(Muttinadu) writes :This is the the first time I am visiting this site.... It took 5 hours to go through this site, you have done a fantastic job. Its just like a bible for our next generation. Thanks for your commitment!

Badaga

From the heart

Do you feel very strongly about any issue concerning Badaga Community? Have the urge to pour your heart out ? Feel free to express yourself without any inhibition and send them tobjaypee@gmail.com

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Save the TIGER

Tiger is HULI in Badaga Lanuage

Read any Indian Newspaper

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CLICK HERE
------------------------
Bhuvaneshwari R writes :- This website is one of the best I have seen. Didn’t think I would find so much detail about our culture.
The history of origin of Badagas is quite fascinating. Photos are also really great.
Really good to see someone do an effort to spread awareness.Thank you…
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Here are some great Hethey songs!

Song uploaded in Soundcloud by Suresh M

Needs & Greeds

Here's a question that was posed to the Dalai Lama:

"What thing about humanity surprises you the most?"

His answer is : "MAN - Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn't enjoy the present,

And as a result he doesn't live in the present or the future. And he lives as if he's never going to die and then he dies having never really lived".

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560,000 hits and counting

That is a lot of hits for a website [weblog] on BADAGA that is focused on a small community of the Blue Mountains - the Nilgiris, in the southern part of India. Is it due to...

the urge to know the unknown about ourselves....

to sift the truth from fiction....the satisfaction that we have a very unique history.....the mystery about the mistaken migration.....the traditions that are still steadfastly followed.....the great language that has survived for centuries without a script...

The simple fact that this site's motto of 'Proud to be a Badaga ; Proud to be an Indian' has become an accepted norm...

You all, my dear friends, have made me bow my head in gratitude.

Proud to be an Indian and proud to be a Badaga, indeed.

Hope to say - 'thanks a million' soon...

Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash, is the 'All-in-One' of this site. He says that he started this site as a hobby but now it has become an obsession.This website crossed the milestone of 100,000 visitors on 8-3-2010, 150,000 visitors on 20-4-2011, 200,000 visitors on 6-4-2012 , 250,000 on 22-1-2013, 300,000 hits on 6-1-2014, 350,000 on 6-1-15 and 400,000 on 13 -11-2015550000 hits on 1 Jan 2018. Feel humbled but proud